


[ART] More Dear To Me

by mortmere



Category: due South
Genre: Art, Fanart, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-11 22:55:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 0
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29375304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mortmere/pseuds/mortmere
Summary: A midday break in a Chicago park in May.Made for Flower Crown Day 2021.
Relationships: Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski
Comments: 25
Kudos: 32
Collections: Flower Crown Day 2021





	[ART] More Dear To Me

**Author's Note:**

> I had no idea what to call this piece, so I googled dandelion poetry for inspiration. To my utter delight, there's a 19th century American Romantic poem singing the praises of this common flower - exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to find! It sounds like something Fraser might have found in his grandparents' traveling library as a boy. This is the bit where the title comes from: 
> 
> _\-- thou art more dear to me_  
>  _Than all the prouder summer-blooms might be._
> 
> From ["To the Dandelion"](https://www.bartleby.com/360/5/178.html) by James Russell Lowell (1819-1891)

[ ](https://64.media.tumblr.com/cf4130b1778d9a896e711fc538eed1e1/4b0db4c3bd9071a6-2b/s2048x3072/a12cf2964ee86425370cc64f40b431f9b6859011.jpg)

**Author's Note:**

> I was glad to lift face references for both Fraser and Ray from the ice crevasse scene in CotW. They needed a change of scenery. :)
> 
> There are two photos without which this piece wouldn't have turned out the way it did. The first one is  
> [a photo from Burnham Park, Chicago, by Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune](https://www.chicagotribune.com/resizer/kb8XyCZLrlX4KnOIQsQ6DDITAcU=/800x515/top/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/public/WT3YYNMU3BD6VM5KSR6TCIBDJA.jpg). (I suppose it's from Burnham Park, and I suppose there were lawns and dandelions there even in the 1990s. This was the first thing I bothered to look up about Chicago since my dS obsession started - the reality of that city doesn't interest me, but I admit I'm still slightly bothered that there might be buildings in the background that weren't there in dS days...)
> 
> The second source photo is an anonymous vintage photo I squirreled away for fanart use as soon as I saw it in the online reviews of Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell’s book, _LOVING: A Photographic History of Men in Love 1850s-1950s_. The photo is at the top [in this article](https://thequeerreview.com/2020/11/01/exclusive-interview-hugh-nini-neal-treadwell-loving-a-photographic-history-of-men-in-love/).
> 
> Heh, but that wasn't the only one I stashed away...
> 
> (Note to self: Next time, pick something that allows using a CKR picture where his face is seen from a perfectly normal, aesthetically pleasing angle, preferably complete with ears and hair and other essentials, because reconstructing the top of his head for this one was hell, and it's still all kinds of wonky and annoying.)


End file.
